SPECIAL DIETS ADVISORY COMMITTEE

asked the Minister of Food in how many of the 235 applications from doctors, which he refused in the last six months, were the members of the advisory committee directly consulted; how many meetings of that committee were held in that period; what attendance of members constituted a quorum; what information is available at meetings of the committee, other than that furnished by doctors' medical certificates; and what is the procedure adopted by the committee
272W
when an application is made for the treatment of a disease which comes under no heading in the schedule furnished to every medical practitioner.

Every one of the 235 applications referred to by the hon. Member was submitted to the Food Rationing (Special Diets) Advisory Committee. All letters from the patient or written on the patient's behalf and any letters from the local and divisional food offices which have any bearing on the case, are forwarded with the medical certificates and letters from the doctor to the committee, which is therefore fully acquainted with all the facts which have been presented concerning the case. Meetings of the committee have always been so well attended that the question of a quorum has never arisen: there have never been more than three members absent. For the answer to the remainder of his Question, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 29th January to the hon. and gallant Member for Pudsey and Otley (Colonel Stoddart-Scott).